Pulled Up Bridge on Twelve String Luthier Question

[Jason May]

Sorry for the luthier question, but I don't really have anyone else to turn to. My favorite twelve string guitar has been hanging on my wall for almost six years because the bridge pulled up a bit. Today I popped it off and the top is pretty splintery beneath. I have the proper tools and clamps to fix this, but I'm concerned there won't be enough contact for the glue to hold it. I don't want it pulling up again.

 

Luckily I can't blame myself for the splintering. It didn't take much to get the bridge off. It peeled itself up. I should have gotten it repaired a long time ago. But like most people $$ is short.

[Randy S. Bretz]

If it was me fixing it...I`d use a good brand name epoxy glue to hold it. But thats just me I tend to overkill my glue jobs...but like you said...I wouldn`t want to have to go back and fix it again....12 strings is alot of tension !!!!!!

[Jason May]

Yeah. Most guys recommend tightbond 2. I'm just concerned about the deep crevises left by the spruce splintering. Thanks for the suggestion.

Randy S. Bretz said:

If it was me fixing it...I`d use a good brand name epoxy glue to hold it. But thats just me I tend to overkill my glue jobs...but like you said...I wouldn`t want to have to go back and fix it again....12 strings is alot of tension !!!!!!

[jim]

Hate it when that happens!. You could set 2 small bolts with nuts on the inside of the body, Then add mother of pearl plugs to make it look nice. You may need to glue in some support to the inside of the body for this. And of course glue. Many acoustic guitars are done this way.

[Jason May]

Yeah. I read that adding more to the bridge plate may be necessary. Something as simple as the thickness of veneer. Just for added support. I'm going to take this slow, so if anyone else has any recommendations send them my way. Thanks again.

jim said:

Hate it when that happens!. You could set 2 small bolts with nuts on the inside of the body, Then add mother of pearl plugs to make it look nice. You may need to glue in some support to the inside of the body for this. And of course glue. Many acoustic guitars are done this way.

[Jason May]

After your suggestions, I have done some deeper digging and found this great video. I think this is the direction I will be heading, seeing as how I have a slight belly. Which is sometimes normal, but I'm thinking I need to brace this sucker up.

 

http://grahamparkerluthier.com/2010/10/23/acoustic-guitar-repair-gu...

[David L.]

Is it possible to add a tailpiece so then the bridge gets only downward pressure from the strings keeping it in place and the tailpiece takes all the pull?

[LJ]

There is an article in Vintage Guitar Magazine Nov 2010 issue that talks about replacing a bridge on an old gibson. One of the things I picked up from it was the fact that he took time to fill the holes on the interior bridgeplate with a mixture of sawdust and hyde glue. I have never attempted a repair of this nature but it made sence. By correcting the inside string holes under the bridge, alot of the pressure gets relieved from the actual bridge itself. This may or may have anything to do with your guitars condition. But you should definatley take the time to check that portion of your bridge out while your in the process of doing your repair. It may be one of the reasons your old bridge popped off in the first place.

  Another tip i picked up  was that he removed the old bridge with a 80 watt chisel style tiped soldering iron. His guitar had a bridge plate on top of another piece of rosewood, so his iron was not touching the guitars actual top when he was doing this.(2 pieces of rosewood sandwiched together on top and a piece of maple on the inside)

   I dont know if any of this info will be helpful to you or not, Just thought Id throw it out there. The bridgeplate on the inside would have never crossed my mind until I saw this article.

[Jason May]

Actually, the bridge plate is in good shape. I think it was as string tension issue and a dryness issue. Pretty much the entire bridge pulled up by itself. I also noticed after taking the bridge off, that the makers had drilled the holes wrong through the soundboard and bridge plate. They filled the holes with something that looks like hide glue and redrilled. There is a little creasant shape left from the filled area. Weird right?

I picked up stewmac's belly reducer and I'm going to use that this week to flatten the sound board back. I my purchase a bridge doctor to help keep the tension off the bridge. Haven't decided yet. It's another $50. But I figure I'll used these tools again, either on my own builds or resurrecting old instruments, which is something I enjoy. 

 

That sawdust tip is good. I was wondering if something like that would be okay under the bridge and on the soundboard. Because there are bits of sound board torn out. Years of pullup really did a number on it. Oh well. The rest of the guitar is in perfect shape. Thanks for the help!

LJ said:

There is an article in Vintage Guitar Magazine Nov 2010 issue that talks about replacing a bridge on an old gibson. One of the things I picked up from it was the fact that he took time to fill the holes on the interior bridgeplate with a mixture of sawdust and hyde glue. I have never attempted a repair of this nature but it made sence. By correcting the inside string holes under the bridge, alot of the pressure gets relieved from the actual bridge itself. This may or may have anything to do with your guitars condition. But you should definatley take the time to check that portion of your bridge out while your in the process of doing your repair. It may be one of the reasons your old bridge popped off in the first place.

  Another tip i picked up  was that he removed the old bridge with a 80 watt chisel style tiped soldering iron. His guitar had a bridge plate on top of another piece of rosewood, so his iron was not touching the guitars actual top when he was doing this.(2 pieces of rosewood sandwiched together on top and a piece of maple on the inside)

   I dont know if any of this info will be helpful to you or not, Just thought Id throw it out there. The bridgeplate on the inside would have never crossed my mind until I saw this article.

[Jason May]

Aw man.  Now I found that one of the tips of the xbrace is lifting. That's a problem. I picked up a belly reducer tool from stew mac. At least this project is showing me how much I should brace a cigar box if I string it up like a standard guitar!

[Ted Crocker]

HAAAA Always a silver lining.  And something to add to your resume...

[Skeesix]

Hi, I done some bridge reglues on 6 strings.

It looks like you're on the right track. The main thing is to get the bridge flatness/curvature to match the top flatness/curvature. Then you can leave all those splinters on the bridge and hopefully it will all line up.

It doesn't look like you will need to remove any old finish or glue under the bridge, so that's a plus.

You should try to remove the old glue on the brace area as best as you can before reglueing.

 

[Dennis R. Dehart]

i bought an ibanez 12 string that the bridge had already came up on it,someonr talked me into using gorilla glue what ever you do dont use gorilla glue,only lasted a week and was worse when it came off again,so in desperation i used jb weld,mostly to fill in the voids and put screws in the peg holes to keep the alignment and drilled holes between the pegs,and put brass screws with washers through them holes,but i did not put the jb weld until i had everything ready to bolt ot together,that was 2 years ago and it still works just fine did not affect tone or action.i think i put a total of 5 scres in it,#6 brass screws no washer on the head but a washer on the nut side in the body.did not look good but did not look bad either,actually was barely noticable.no one ever noticed or said anything unless i brought it to their atention.hope this helps.